I Remember When He Met The Crab

We would often ride our bikes to Lake Pontchartrain to go crabbing and fishing. There were a lot of swampy areas around the lake that made the crabbing part really easy. Just tie a chicken leg to the bottom of a crab basket, let it sit for a few minutes and before you knew it, crabs were flocking to get in on the feast.

So, I’ve been asked many times what the story is behind this painting. Is it about my dog’s love for crabs? or maybe it’s about the crab’s love for my dog? Well, this is how this encounter went down. The day started out like any other day at the lake. We set up shop, dropped the baskets, cast our fishing lines, and just waited. The dog came and sat in the shallow water and watched, then out of nowhere, he started crying, whimpering. and running in circles. We couldn’t figure out what was wrong, we checked his ears, his paws, his nose, his tail, until finally he dropped on his back and showed us his belly… then it all became clear. It seems a baby crab thought my dog would make a tasty treat and decided to pinch my dog’s “sensitive” area. It was not a pleasant experience for either the dog or the crab, but the situation was addressed, no permanent damage was noted, and the dog learned a very valuable lesson about sitting in shallow swamp water.